Review of Guns for Hire: The Making of 'The Magnificent Seven'

Compared to the dreck of which many "Making of's" consist, the 47-minute version of GUNS FOR HIRE included on the MGM Special Edition MAGNIFICENT SEVEN d.v.d. release stands head and shoulders above most. It features new interviews of five of the six lead actors alive 40 years after the feature was filmed, plus a new interview with the lead actress, plus portions of an archival interview with Yul Brynner (who died in 1985), plus new interviews with the 1960 wives of both Brynner and Steve McQueen (who died in 1980), plus new interviews with assistant director Robert Relyea, associate producer Lou Morheim, executive producer Walter Mirisch, script doctor Walter Bernstein, and Oscar-nominated composer Elmer Bernstein. Only Charles Bronson is largely overlooked in this behind-the-scenes expose. Other minor quibbles include narrator Bob Benecke labeling MAGNIFICENT SEVEN as the second most ubiquitous movie on American television without providing 1)a source for this "fact," 2)what time period is alluded to, and 3)which film tops M7. However, GUNS FOR HIRE includes a half dozen industry talking heads NOT directly involved in M7, as well as a generous and aptly placed number of clips from the feature. GUNS is fairly seamlessly edited together, has tons of interesting trivia, and does a great job of placing M7 in its appropriate historical niche then and now.